Andy Roddick Had a Cancerous Tumor Removed from His Lip: 'Put Sunscreen on Your Kids'
The tennis star made an impromptu PSA about his ongoing skin cancer struggle since having a tumor removed from his lip
Served with Andy Roddick/Youtube
Andy Roddick shows his red face following treatment for skin cancer.Tennis pro Andy Roddick is talking about an unintended consequence of his tennis career: skin cancer.
He opened up to fans about his ongoing struggle with skin cancer and made an impromptu public service announcement during this week’s episode of his podcast, Served.
Roddick, whose face was visibly inflamed and red, prefaced his statement by saying, “I had a weird morning this morning, so I'm going to kind of do a general PSA right now. [It] might be kind of boring for some of you, but I think it needs to be said.”
“I've dealt with various types of skin cancer since since I stopped playing,” Roddick, who played his final professional match at the U.S. Open in 2012, revealed.
“[I] had a squamous cell tumor taken out of my lip, probably like five or six years ago,” the 41-year-old tennis champion shared. “I haven't ever talked about it. This morning we went into this face laser thing that's why for those of you watching on YouTube it looks like I got in a fight.”
According to the Mayo Clinic, “Lip cancer can occur anywhere along the upper or lower lip, but is most common on the lower lip.”
As was the case for Roddick, treatment for lip cancer “usually involves surgery."
“It stinks,” he said. “I think I'm going to be a general kind of hatchet job for the rest of my life. [I] won't go into the ‘woe was me' part of it, because nothing is wrong, everything is good but — use sunscreen.”
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Roddick, who shares son Hank, 8, and daughter Stevie, 6, with wife Brooklyn Decker, 37, continued, “Put sunscreen on your kids, especially if they are tennis players.”
“The problem won't present itself when the kid is 8, but it might present itself when that kid is grown and is 38.”
As the U.S. Centers for Disease Control points out, “Most skin cancers are caused by too much exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light. UV rays are an invisible kind of radiation that comes from the sun, tanning beds, and sunlamps. UV rays can damage skin cells.”
“Put on broad spectrum sunscreen that filters out both UVA and UVB rays and has an SPF of 15 or higher before you go outside,” the CDC recommends, adding that it needs to be reapplied throughout the day — and that it can expire, so be sure to check expiration dates.
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Roddick joked about his inflamed appearance, saying, “It looks like I got in a fight from the skin treatments that that I got today.”
“Greener pastures ahead, and I made it a habit to get checked time after time after time and, knock on wood, we are all good.”
He ended his statement with a lighthearted quip, adding, “That rhyme that was like Dr. Seuss of like, cancer PSA announcements.”
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